DAISY AMES

I have always maintained that making time and space for solitude...

Sun, 29 Apr 2012 11:52:00 -0400

I have always maintained that making time and space for solitude is important, and I could not agree more with Sherry Turkle’s explanation why…

“You end up isolated if you don’t cultivate solitude - the ability to be separate, to gather yourself. Solitude is where you find yourself so that you can reach out to other people and form real attachments. When we don’t have the capacity for solitude, we turn to other people in order to feel less anxious, or in order to feel alive. When this happens we are not able to appreciate who they are. It is as though we are using them as spare parts, to support our fragile sense of self. We slip in to thinking that always being connected is going to make us feel less alone. But we are at risk because actually it’s the opposite that is true. If we are not able to be alone, we are going to be lonely.”

German painter, Gerhard Richter has an amazing breadth of work -...

Fri, 27 Apr 2012 20:39:00 -0400

German painter, Gerhard Richter has an amazing breadth of work - most prominently known for his large scale abstract oil paintings. A few weeks ago I was able to see one of the final screenings of Gerhard Richter Paintings at the Film Forum in New York City. The 80 year old has such particularity about his process and outcome, while always maintaining that there is no plan. He has a very physical and emotional way of producing his work that is completly mesmerizing. Here is a taste…

a week’s worth of to-do lists… i know i’m...

Tue, 24 Apr 2012 11:33:00 -0400

a week’s worth of to-do lists… i know i’m crazy, thank you. #finalreviews

http://instagr.am/p/JzrWyPprq5/

architecture school makes us so cool that...

Wed, 18 Apr 2012 20:30:00 -0400

… our pin-up pit transforms into a badminton court at night.

This drawing addresses two types of ‘Absolute’ Figures in Piranesi’s Campo Marzio, plate 5: Finite...

Fri, 13 Apr 2012 20:48:00 -0400

This drawing addresses two types of ‘Absolute’ Figures in Piranesi’s Campo Marzio, plate 5:

Finite Figures – figures that are not part of a larger compound figure, or participating in the sequence, unfolding, or axial relationships which are the crux of Piranesi’s urban plan-making strategy.

Edgeless Figures – figures without a significant edge condition, or in a particular dialogue with other figures, infill objects, or a larger organizational frameworks.

Drawing by Daisy Ames

every friday…

Fri, 13 Apr 2012 16:23:00 -0400

every friday…

'Absolute Architecture' defined...

Wed, 11 Apr 2012 20:52:00 -0400

The part is absolute; it stands in solitude, yet it takes a position with regard to the whole from which it has been separated. The architecture of the archipelago must be an absolute architecture, an architecture that is defined by and makes clear the presence of limits which define the city. An absolute architecture is one that recognizes whether these limits are a product (and a camouflage) of economic exploitation (such as the enclaves determined by uneven economic redistribution) or whether they are the pattern of an ideological will to separation within the common space of the city…

Instead of being an icon of diversity per se, and absolute architecture must refuse any impetus to novelty and accept the possibility of being an instrument of separation, and thus of political action.

- The Possibility of an Absolute Architecture by Pier Vittorio Aureli p.45-46

holy f. crazy about dan auerbach of the black keys… and...

Wed, 11 Apr 2012 09:56:00 -0400

holy f. crazy about dan auerbach of the black keys… and absolutely loving ‘bright lights’ he produced with gary clark jr. - southern rock vibe and great beat! via fredwilson

louis kahn reflecting paul rudolph this morning at yale art...

Wed, 04 Apr 2012 07:36:00 -0400

louis kahn reflecting paul rudolph this morning at yale art gallery and yale school of architecture… 6:41am

"I want to produce heroic students, not “leading the charge” types, but students who..."

Fri, 30 Mar 2012 16:41:20 -0400

““I want to produce heroic students, not “leading the charge” types, but students who *are* just, moral, and truthful. Not opportunistic.””

- Peter Eisenman

Fiona Apple “Across the Universe” Live at the Bowery Ballroom -...

Tue, 27 Mar 2012 21:47:27 -0400

Fiona Apple “Across the Universe”

Live at the Bowery Ballroom - last night - 3/26/2012

I think every single person in the room was hanging on every single note she sung when this song began last night. (via perpetua)

Really liking this song a friend sent :) Royal Blue by Cold War...

Tue, 27 Mar 2012 10:56:00 -0400

Really liking this song a friend sent :)

Royal Blue by Cold War Kids

Architecture school makes me so cool that… I nearly died.

Thu, 22 Mar 2012 08:51:00 -0400

Entering architecture graduate school without experience (ie computer software, physical model-making skills and/or design experience) really made first year a very hard challenge. It was still a vicious battle even for those in the same program who already had four years of architecture as an undergraduate! But, in a matter of months, the computer programs were learned, model-making skills acquired, and design experience gained. But I can do better…

If there is anything I’ve learned while making my portfolio, it’s that representation is extremely important. The ideas behind my work are strong, but representing these ideas in a simple, creative and graphically stimulating way makes all the difference. In addition, various modes of material and construction exploration during the academic year can be time consuming and seem to distract from what is actually “due.” So, during the academic year these opportunities for discovery were not fully explored. But I want to explore more…

Therefore, this summer, I decided, rather than to join the internship rat-race I will be tapping into the craft of handmade objects, furniture design/build and zoning in on the architectural and graphic representation of my work. Dedicating this time to improve upon articulating my ideas, showing my skills, and heightening my ambitions is already creating a road map of adventure for this summer. If all this building, fabricating, and devotion to representation opens a door to a new undefined path, then I welcome it with open arms!

i found a classic… via betonbabe: ANTHONY AMES LE...

Tue, 20 Mar 2012 18:54:49 -0400

i found a classic… via betonbabe:

ANTHONY AMES

LE CORBUSIER’S MODULOR SHOOTING BASKETS BENEATH AN ARRAY OF 1 TO √2 RECTANGLES, IN: STANLEY ABERCROMBIE, ARCHITECTURE AS ART, 1980s

…merci, friederike goebbels

Part of a hand drawing which began with Brook Taylor’s...

Sun, 18 Mar 2012 14:02:34 -0400

Part of a hand drawing which began with Brook Taylor’s 2-point and 3-point method of constructed perspectives… by Daisy Ames

Apropos transparency, shape and reflection at architect Anthony...

Tue, 13 Mar 2012 21:04:00 -0400

Apropos transparency, shape and reflection at architect Anthony Ames’ exhibition at Cornell University’s new architecture building designed by Rem Koolhaas…

Exhibition

Anthony Ames

bryanmaddock: An archetypal void seen as a figure in plan is a...

Mon, 12 Mar 2012 14:56:49 -0400

bryanmaddock:

An archetypal void seen as a figure in plan is a conceptual ambiguity since figures are generally thought of as solid. Yet when a void has the properties of a figure it is endowed with certain capabilities which “ground” voids lack. While the Piazza Barberini in Rome, a ”ground” void, functions well as a distributor of traffic but not as a collector of people, the Piazza Navona, a figural void, collects pedestrians easily.

Contextualism: Urban Ideals and Deformations [Tom Schumacher / 1971]

a piece of mid-review presentation on stamford urban plan...

Thu, 01 Mar 2012 00:33:18 -0500

In our analysis of Stamford we focused on the fact that the downtown area is predominately populated with commuters. The city is purely functional, serving a daytime population of business people without any of the character that comes from or draws in full time residents. Essentially Stamford is a sort of no place place that is only populated when necessary. We want to capitalize on the young professional commuter, give them a reason to stay in Stamford and play up the potential allure of these people and this world instead of seeing the city as a sort of cheap suit. In between the downtown area and the low income residents are a couple of under-utilized parks and some areas that are in some sense left over space. We hope to use these spaces to create a sense of place and give people a reason to stay in Stamford past 5 pm. In order to create this waterfront area, we looked at a series of precedents that combined urban areas and parks in leftover spaces such as Houston’s Buffalo Bayou and create lively waterfront activity, such as Vancouver. We are proposing a first phase of construction that provides Stamford with more park, high-end residential buildings, and a commercial center out on the water.

This is the first phase in what we envision as a scheme that eventually joins up to the Mill River Park. In the way that RBS worked with the city in order to create a park for the area in exchange for being able to construct a larger building which required closing a city street, we hope to engage in a series of swaps (of FAR), where in each phase there is public space created “in exchange” for something that the city needs such as parking for the train. All of these moves are made in an effort to create a sense of place, an iconic area for Stamford that could be both recognized from the highway as you’re driving by and draw in pedestrians to shop, live, and hang out instead of getting right back onto the train into Manhattan

"There’s only one thing I value and that’s loyalty. And without it, you’re nothing."

Sat, 25 Feb 2012 02:40:18 -0500

““There’s only one thing I value and that’s loyalty. And without it, you’re nothing.””

- Ides of March

Henry Cobb, from the renowned Pei Cobb Freed, gave a...

Tue, 21 Feb 2012 17:21:00 -0500

Henry Cobb, from the renowned Pei Cobb Freed, gave a presentation to a small group of students and faculty today for Stanislaus von Moos’ Cold War Urbanism: Berlin seminar. However, he spoke about the images he took while he traveled to Warsaw in 1947, as a student at the Harvard GSD in 1947. These images were exceptional because they documented a time in Warsaw’s history that bridged Post-WWII destruction and pre- Stalinization. He used a polychromatic camera, very rare of the time, which drastically empowered the images and made the time immediately tangible and incredibly beautiful. While he was documenting the ruins of Warsaw and cataloging the urban potential, he also photographed a few people he was staying with and working with. These were Poles who had survived concentration camps, and who had come back to Warsaw to start a new life and rebuild the city. He was struck by their enthusiasm, despite the fact that their lives had been destroyed, noting the happiness they saw in the opportunity to build again. These were Communists in a time just before Stalin’s Communism arrived and imposed Social Realism that turned their modernist aspirations upside down. These rare polychromatic images allow us to see a world of destruction without a black and white grain, and prevent disassociation that occurs since the BW images often reinforce distance in time. As someone who was born in 1984, having no personal nostalgia to Warsaw, the color images of a Post-War environment and people basking in the glory of their dreams to rebuild life and a city again was truly moving.